On the day the world’s largest democracy commenced its mega affair of the 2024 general election, polling booths in six districts of Eastern Nagaland wore a deserted look. While rest of Nagaland registered a healthy voter turn out averaging at around 80 per cent, 19 polling stations in the districts of Mon, Kiphire, Tuensang, Noklak, Shamator, and Longleng had polling officers and booth level workers sitting idle.

Typically, elections in far remote parts in the Northeast like Eastern Nagaland do not make it to mainstream news. However, videos of booth workers playfully riding on swings in a park on and playing with marbles have gone viral on social media. Chempho Konyak, a booth level worker in Mon Town, said that no one showed up from 7am to 4pm when the polling booth was open. “The whole station had nothing to do so we started playing Money Queen, a game of Marbles for about an hour,” he told mid-day. “It was just timepass”